Leonora Carrington at Tate Liverpool

Leonora Carrington 

Tate Liverpool 

6 March – 31 May 2015 

Tate Liverpool presents the first UK solo exhibition of work by LEONORA CARRINGTON (1917-2011) for over 20 years. Leonora Carrington explores the fantastical world of the painter and internationally celebrated member of the surrealist movement. 

A prolific painter, the exhibition looks at how the artist established her distinctive take on surrealism; characterised by eccentric beings which shift between plant, animal, human and object; between reality and otherworldliness. Taking key paintings as its starting point Leonora Carrington examines Leonora Carrington’s diverse practice and uses the artist’s own words, brought together by Mexican author Chloe Aridjis, to narrate the display.

In the mid–1930s Leonora Carrington turned her back on her upper-class upbringing in northern England, embarking upon a complicated relationship with German artist Max Ernst in France before spending a short time in Spain during the Second World War. Her creative practice at this point encompassed writing short stories, drawing and painting.

It was after arriving in Mexico in 1942 that Leonora Carrington’s practice expanded further as she populated plays, sculptures and textiles with her extraordinary worlds. In 1947 her work was included in an international exhibition of surrealism in New York, where she was the only female British artist featured, establishing her pivotal role within the surrealist movement. In the 1950s and 60s Leonora Carrington broadened her practice and embraced set and costume design for productions including her own, Penelope 1957, and films, for which she designed sets and costumes, as well as performing as an actress.

A major highlight in the exhibition is The Magical World of the Mayas 1964, a 4.5 metre long mural painted by Leonora Carrington for the opening of the new Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City in 1964. On display for the first time outside Mexico it serves as a monument to Leonora Carrington’s relationship with Mexico, the country she adopted as her home. 

Refusing to be constrained or restricted by expectations or conventional limitations, Leonora Carrington’s expanded practice has made her an inspiration to many contemporary artists working across a range of mediums. Her patron Edward James commented in 1975 that ‘she has never relinquished her love of experimentation, the result being that she has been able to diversify and explore a hundred or more techniques for the expression of her creative powers’.  

Leonora Carrington is curated by Francesco Manacorda, Artistic Director and author Chloe Aridjis with Lauren Barnes, Assistant Curator.

With support from the Government of Mexico as part of the Year of Mexico in the UK 2015 and sponsored by Edge Hill University, the UK University of the Year. 

TATE LIVERPOOL

www.tate.org.uk

Afro Modern: Black Atlantic Art and Culture

 Afro Modern:
Journeys through the Black Atlant
Tate Liverpool
29 January – 25 April 2010

Afro Modern: Journeys through the Black Atlantic takes its inspiration from Paul Gilroy’s seminal book The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness (1993). The exhibition is the first to trace in depth the impact of different black cultures from around the Atlantic on art from the early twentieth century to today. From the influences of African art on the modernist forms of artists like Picasso, to the work of contemporary artists such as Ellen Gallagher, Chris Ofili and Kara Walker, the exhibition will reflect how artists around the Atlantic have claimed the language of Modernism in diverse ways, as a powerful tool to explore, formulate and assert their own identity. 

In 1993 Paul Gilroy coined the term ‘The Black Atlantic’ to describe the fusion of black cultures with other cultures from around the Atlantic. His book had an enormous impact on how black culture has been perceived and discussed within the field of cultural studies, stimulating ongoing critical debates. Afro Modern: Journeys through the Black Atlantic reflects this idea of the Atlantic Ocean as a ‘continent in negative’, a network of surrounding and interconnecting cultures spanning Africa, North and South America, the Caribbean and Europe, and traces the real and imaginary routes taken by artists across the Atlantic from 1909 to today. 

Liverpool’s location as a gateway to the Atlantic, and the history and legacy of its involvement in slavery, makes this exploration of Black Atlantic culture pertinent to the city and Gallery. The dispersal of people of black African descent – many forcibly displaced by the slave trade – had a profound impact on art and culture that has been frequently overlooked or diminished. The exhibition is divided into chronological chapters, ranging from early twentieth century avant-garde movements such as the Harlem Renaissance to current debates around ‘Post-Black’ art. It opens up an alternative transatlantic reading of Modernism and its impact on contemporary culture for a new generation and places the work of a wide range of artists in juxtaposition. Afro Modern: Journeys through the Black Atlantic features work by artists including Romare Bearden, Constantin Brancusi, Edward Burra, Renee Cox, Aaron Douglas, Walker Evans, Ellen Gallagher, David Hammons, Isaac Julien, Wifredo Lam, Jacob Lawrence, Norman Lewis, Glenn Ligon, Ronald Moody, Wangechi Mutu, Uche Okeke, Pablo Picasso, Keith Piper, Tracey Rose and Kara Walker.

Afro Modern: Journeys through the Black Atlantic has been conceived and developed by Tanya Barson, Curator of International Art at Tate Modern and is curated by Tanya Barson and Peter Gorschlüter, Head of Exhibitions and Displays at Tate Liverpool. 

The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with essays by recognised scholars in the field: Petrine Archer-Straw, Roberto Conduru, Huey Copeland, Manthia Diawara, Courtney J. Martin and Kobena Mercer. 

Afro Modern: Journeys through the Black Atlantic is part of Liverpool and the Black Atlantic, a series of exhibitions and events that explores connections between cultures and continents. Partners include the Bluecoat, FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology), International Slavery Museum, Metal, Tate Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, and the University of Liverpool. 

Supported by Liverpool City Council. With additional funding from Tate International Council, Tate Liverpool Members, The Granada Foundation, The Embassy of the United States in London and The Romanian Cultural Institute in London

Afro Modern: Journeys through the Black Atlantic
Tate Liverpool
29 January – 25 April 2010
Admission: £6.00 (£4.50 concessions)
Booking and enquiries: +44 (0) 151 702 7400

Tom Titherington: Mention the War, Senate House Exhibition Hall, University of Liverpool

Tom Titherington: Mention the War

Senate House Exhibition Hall, 

University of Liverpool

17 January - 21 March 2003

The University of Liverpool presents for the first time Tom Titherington's 'War' series, a group of paintings and lino-cuts which explore human experiences during World War II. Tom Titherington grew up in Liverpool during the period, and the series draws extensively upon his own memories and on recollections sent to him by Liverpool people in response to a newspaper feature.

The work successfully captures the often conflicting emotions felt during wartime, and highlights the humanity of the situation with poignancy. The style also allows the artist some licence to develop a lightness of touch. As Tom states, '..what I'm presenting isn't 'real' history .. Everything I do is true, but I don't claim objectivity.' An example is 'A day at the sea-side', in which one sees an imaginary image of Neville Chamberlain and his wife Annie enjoying a walk on New Brighton promenade in the summer of 1930. All the fun of the seaside is shown, with the brilliant yellows of the sand adding to the vibrancy of the image. The very idea of Chamberlain spending an afternoon at New Brighton amongst the ordinary people is itself amusing. The image does not lose sight, however, of the coming war, and Chamberlain's controversial role in the years leading to 1939.

Much of the impact of the series stems from the style of the painting, which is highly original, and draws sensitively on the artist's extensive experiences teaching art to children. At a basic level the images are child-like, or naive, and make use of the immediacy of child art, as well as specific graphic devices, to convey associated emotions. For example, many of the works in the series are punctuated by zig-zag lines, used to denote explosions or shock waves. Tom also adheres printed, found images on to the picture surface, which are partially over-painted to integrate them into the work.

Tom Titherington is a practicing fine artist, with forty years experience of art education. He has shown his work in London and the North West of England. In he 2002 won first prize in the 'Liverpool 8' open exhibition for graduates of the Liverpool School of Art.

Senate House Exhibition Hall 

University of Liverpool

Oxford Street, Liverpool L69 7WY

www.liv.ac.uk

Alan McKernan, University of Liverpool, Senate House Exhibition Hall - Contrasting Light

Alan McKernan: Contrasting Light

Senate House Exhibition Hall, 

University of Liverpool

1 February - 16 March 2001

Enter a new and unfamiliar landscape in this exhibition of photographs of Formby and the Dock Road area by local artist, Alan McKernan. There will be a selection of 36 black and white photos from two recent series called 'Last Light' made at Formby and 'Continuum of Change' taken around the Dock Road.

Laying aside the high-tech digital equipment now available to photographers Alan McKernan decided to show what could be done with the simpler medium of camera, black and white film and daylight. He wanted to demonstrate to himself, and his students at Liverpool's Community College, the continuing potential of traditional camera technology to surprise and please the eye.

Visiting the woods and dunes at Formby, Alan McKernan made a series of photographs often taken in the last light of day. 'The familiar landscape emerged re-drawn in the ever-changing light. The pinewoods and marram grass became reminiscent of equatorial forests, savannah grasslands and dry deserts.' The resulting images in the 'Last Light' series are of unusual and haunting beauty; creating connections with a distant past and echoes of a fairy-tale world.

A stark contrast appears in Alan McKernan's second series of photos, which are of the Dock Road area, actually Regent Road. The grid-like pattern of brick and stone are deeply etched in these strongly urban images. Yet what attracted Alan McKernan to the subject was the 'Continuum of Change' between the man-made structures and the working of natural forces. As the disused warehouses of the Dock Road area age and decay, plants have begun to reclaim the buildings. 'This flourishing of nature symbolises man's transient impact; the apparently random distribution of the plant forms is in contrast to man's attempts to bring order and structure to the landscape'.

The 'Contrasting Light' of the two series are linked by this exploration of the forces of nature and by a common theme of light: 'its ephemeral effects sculpt and re-present the landscape'.

Ann Compton, Curator, University of Liverpool Art Collections

Senate House Exhibition Hall 

University of Liverpool

Oxford Street, Liverpool L69 7WY

www.liv.ac.uk

Bernard Meninsky at University of Liverpool Art Gallery - A singular vision

Bernard Meninsky: A singular vision

University of Liverpool Art Gallery

19 October - 21 December 2000

Brilliant draughtsmanship and an exquisite sense of colour combine to create the 'singular vision' of BERNARD MENINSKY (1891 - 1950). Widely considered one of Britain's finest young artists in the 1920s, Meninsky's work has been gradually eclipsed since his untimely death in 1950. This exhibition is the first held in a public gallery for twenty years. The show brings together forty-five drawings, watercolours and oil paintings from his early family studies through to the late pastoral landscape and figure scenes of the 1940s.

'Minky', as he was known to friends, was a Jewish emigré brought to Liverpool as a baby from the Ukraine. He studied at Liverpool School of Art, in Paris, and at the Slade. After a brief but successful period as a war artist Bernard Meninsky achieved critical success in 1919-20 for an exhibition and book of mother and child studies. Over the next three decades he exhibited regularly, and was an elected member of the London Group and New English Art Club. Bernard Meninsky was a gifted teacher of drawing attracting students from London and abroad. In 1935 he designed the sets and costumes for the ballet 'David' produced by the Markova-Dolin company and in 1946 published an illustrated limited edition of Milton's 'Il Penseroso and L'Allegro'.

Tragically, Bernard Meninsky was afflicted by a highly self-critical and sensitive nature, resulting in periods of breakdown and ultimately his suicide in 1950. Driven by "uncertainties, mysteries and doubts" Meninsky was "indefatigable in extending the boundaries of his art". This exhibition, traces his development from the early, tender studies of friends and family, through sensitive and poetic landscapes of the twenties to the monumental and elegaic figure paintings of the 1930s and 40s.

The exhibition has been organised by the University of Liverpool in conjunction with the Contemporary Art Society. The show marks the generous bequest of the artist's estate by his widow, Nora Meninsky, to the CAS. The exhibition tours during 2001 to Leeds, Sheffield, London and Kingston-Upon-Thames. 

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL ART GALLERY

3 Abercromby Square, Liverpool L69 7WY

www.liv.ac.uk

Heribert C. Ottersbach, University of Liverpool, Senate House Exhibition Hall - Between Strategy and Attitude

Heribert C. Ottersbach: 

Between Strategy and Attitude

Senate House Exhibition Hall, 

University of Liverpool

6 October - 10 November 2000

Heribert Ottersbach has achieved success internationally but his paintings are little known in the UK. In the second showing of his work in this country ten recent paintings are brought together at the University of Liverpool's Senate House from 6 October to 10 November.

The demolition of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the end of Iron Curtain politics have had a strong impact on the work of Heribert C. Ottersbach. His interest in the fall of the Berlin Wall is part of a broader interest in the cultural traditions of the twentieth century.

Ottersbach often works with 'found images' in his painting. He works freely often adding invented 'archival pictures' to the images he has discovered from existing sources. The images are manipulated using computer software to create a "digital sketchbook or imagepool".

There is nothing mechanical about the creation of Ottersbach's finished paintings. The creative process remains vital: "The moment at which the images generated digitally are transferred to the canvas something different is created: Painting. Painting includes a physical impact, it is 'body-work' far away from written language or computer generated images." This intimate relation between artist and canvas is conveyed to the viewer in the subtlety and delicacy of the paintings themselves. Although primarily an artist of ideas Ottersbach's skill as a painter draws us into a deeper sensory engagement with his art.

'Between Strategy and Attitude' is part of 'Eight Days a Week', an exchange of art exhibitions bringing the work of Cologne artists to Liverpool. 'Eight Days a Week' is being showcased at many Liverpool galleries between 6 October and 10 November 2000.

Senate House Exhibition Hall 

University of Liverpool

Oxford Street, Liverpool L69 7WY

www.liv.ac.uk